1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an end-face-processing jig suitable for use in the formation of a reflectance control film on a light-emitting end face and the opposite end face of a semiconductor laser, and to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor laser employing such an end-face-processing jig.
2. Description of the Background Art
Semiconductor lasers have a reflectance control film formed on their light-emitting end face and the opposite end face thereto for the purpose of efficiently emitting light generated therein and preventing possible degradation due to their oxidation. Semiconductor lasers having a reflectance control film formed on their aforementioned end faces are manufactured in the following manner. Firstly, after a p-type and an n-type layers are formed on the substrate of a compound semiconductor, an electrode is formed on each of the p-type and n-type layers. Then, subsequent cleavage will produce bars each formed of a plurality of semiconductor laser bodies continuous with one another, and such bars (hereinafter referred to as “semiconductor laser bars”) and rectangular parallelepipeds (hereinafter referred to as spacers) made of a different material from the bars are arranged alternately and mounted on a jig for fixing them, to thereby form a reflectance control film on the aforementioned end faces (c.f., for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-83073 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-7619).
According to the above conventional techniques, a reflectance control film is formed by deposition of a single-layer film or a multi-layer film of at least two or more layers using any one of sputtering, vacuum evaporation, and CVD (chemical vapor deposition) techniques. In these techniques, however, particles of a material for a reflectance control film have energy, and having that energy they will collide with a jig for fixing semiconductor laser bars and spacers or with the spacers. Although most of the particles colliding with the jig or the spacers are deposited on the jig or the spacers, some may etch the jig or the spacers, so that particles released by the etching from the jig or the spacers may be taken in the reflectance control film formed on the end faces of a semiconductor laser.
If the jig for fixing semiconductor laser bars and spacers is made of, for example, a metal such as stainless steel (SUS), the reflectance control film will take in that metal. If lasing occurs with a metal taken in the reflectance control film, the metal would absorb light and undesirably cause degradation due to catastrophic optical damage (COD), thereby deteriorating the reliability of a semiconductor laser.